Colonial pays cash for structured settlements!
Idaho statues
regarding Structured Settlements.
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This state statute overseeing the
sale of structured settlement payments and
the buying of annuities is basically the
Model Act and complies with Federal Law
(Colonial's interpretation)
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IDAHO CODE
TITLE 28. COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS
CHAPTER 9. SECURED TRANSACTIONS
Part 1. General Provisions
Current through the 2001 Cumulative
Supplement (1st Regular Session of the 56th Legislature)
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(B)(i) Definitions. For purposes of this subsection:
1. "annuity issuer"
means an insurer that has issued a contract to fund
periodic payments under a structured
settlement;
2. "dependents" include
a payee's spouse and minor children and all other persons
for whom the payee is
legally obligated to provide support, including alimony;
3. "discounted present
value" means the present value of future payments determined
by discounting such
payments to the present using the most recently published
applicable federal rate for determining the present
value of an annuity, as issued by the United States
internal revenue service;
4. "gross advance amount"
means the sum payable to the payee or for the payee's
account as consideration
for a transfer of structured settlement payment rights
before any reductions for transfer expenses or other
deductions to be made from such consideration;
5. "independent professional
advice" means advice of an attorney, certified public
accountant, actuary or
other licensed professional adviser;
6. "interested parties"
means, with respect to any structured settlement, the
payee, any beneficiary irrevocably
designated under the annuity contract to receive payments
following the payee's death, the annuity issuer, the
structured settlement obligor, and any other party that
has continuing rights or obligations under such structured
settlement;
7. "net advance amount"
means the gross advance amount less the aggregate amount
of the actual and
estimated transfer expenses required to be disclosed
under paragraph (B)(ii)5. of this subsection;
8. "payee" means an individual
who is receiving tax free payments under a structured
settlement and proposes
to make a transfer of payment rights thereunder;
9. "periodic payments"
includes both recurring payments and scheduled future
lump sum payments;
10. "qualified assignment
agreement" means an agreement providing for a qualified
assignment within the
meaning of 26 U.S.C. section 130, as amended from time
to time;
11. "settled claim"
means the original tort claim resolved by a structured
settlement;
12. "structured settlement"
means an arrangement for periodic payment of damages
for personal injuries or
sickness established by settlement or judgment in resolution
of a tort claim;
13. "structured settlement
agreement" means the agreement, judgment, stipulation,
or release embodying the
terms of a structured settlement;
14. "structured settlement
obligor" means, with respect to any structured settlement,
the party that has the
continuing obligation to make periodic payments to the
payee under a structured settlement agreement or a
qualified assignment agreement;
15. "structured settlement
payment rights" means rights to receive periodic payments
under a structured
settlement, whether from the structured settlement obligor
or the annuity issuer, where:
A.
the payee is domiciled in, or the domicile or principal
place of business of the structured settlement
obligor or the annuity issuer is located in, this state;
or
B.
the structured settlement agreement was approved by
a court in this state; or
C.
the structured settlement agreement is expressly governed
by the laws of this state;
16. "terms of the structured
settlement" include, with respect to any structured
settlement, the terms of the
structured settlement agreement, the annuity contract,
any qualified assignment agreement and any order or
other approval of any court or other government authority
that authorized or approved such structured
settlement;
17. "transfer" means
any sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other
alienation or encumbrance of
structured settlement payment rights made by a payee
for consideration; provided that the term "transfer"
does
not include the creation or perfection of a security
interest in structured settlement payment rights under
a blanket
security agreement entered into with an insured depository
institution, in the absence of any action to redirect
the
structured settlement payments to such insured depository
institution, or an agent or successor in interest thereof,
or otherwise to enforce such blanket security interest
against the structured settlement payment rights;
18. "transfer agreement"
means the agreement providing for a transfer of structured
settlement payment rights;
19. "transfer expenses"
means all expenses of a transfer that are required under
the transfer agreement to be
paid by the payee or deducted from the gross advance
amount, including, without limitation, court filing
fees,
attorney's fees, escrow fees, lien recordation fees,
judgment and lien search fees, finder's fees, commissions,
and other payments to a broker or other intermediary;
"transfer expenses" do not include preexisting obligations
of the payee payable for the payee's account from the
proceeds of a transfer;
20. "transferee" means
a party acquiring or proposing to acquire structured
settlement payment rights through
a transfer.
(ii) Required disclosures to payee. Not less than three
(3) days prior to the date on which a payee signs a
transfer
agreement, the transferee shall provide to the payee
a separate disclosure statement, in bold type no smaller
than
fourteen (14) points, setting forth:
1. the amounts and due
dates of the structured settlement payments to be transferred;
2. the aggregate amount
of such payments;
3. the discounted present
value of the payments to be transferred, which shall
be identified as the "calculation
of current value of the transferred structured settlement
payments under federal standards for valuing annuities,"
and the amount of the applicable federal rate used in
calculating such discounted present value;
4. the gross advance
amount;
5. an itemized listing
of all applicable transfer expenses, other than attorney's
fees and related disbursements
payable in connection with the transferee's application
for approval of the transfer, and the transferee's best
estimate of the amount of any such fees and disbursements;
6. the net advance amount;
7. the amount of any
penalties or liquidated damages payable by the payee
in the event of any breach of the
transfer agreement by the payee; and
8. a statement that the
payee has the right to cancel the transfer agreement,
without penalty or further
obligation, not later than the third business day after
the date the agreement is signed by the payee.
(iii) Approval of transfers of structured settlement
payment rights.
1. No direct or indirect
transfer of structured settlement payment rights shall
be effective and no structured
settlement obligor or annuity issuer shall be required
to make any payment directly or indirectly to any transferee
of structured settlement payment rights unless the transfer
has been approved in advance in a final court order
based on express findings by such court that:
A. the transfer is in
the best interest of the payee, taking into account
the welfare and support of the payee's
dependents;
B. the payee has been
advised in writing by the transferee to seek independent
professional advice regarding
the transfer and has either received such advice or
knowingly waived such advice in writing; and
C. the transfer does
not contravene any applicable statute or the order of
any court or other government
authority.
(iv) Effects of transfer of structured settlement payment
rights. Following a transfer of structured settlement
payment rights under this subsection:
1. The structured settlement
obligor and the annuity issuer shall, as to all parties
except the transferee, be
discharged and released from any and all liability for
the transferred payments;
2. The transferee shall
be liable to the structured settlement obligor and the
annuity issuer:
A. if the transfer contravenes
the terms of the structured settlement, for any taxes
incurred by such parties
as a consequence of the transfer; and
B. for any other liabilities
or costs, including reasonable costs and attorney's
fees, arising from compliance by
such parties with the order of the court or arising
as a consequence of the transferee's failure to comply
with this
subsection;
3. Neither the annuity
issuer nor the structured settlement obligor may be
required to divide any periodic
payment between the payee and any transferee or assignee
or between two (2) or more transferees or
assignees; and
4. Any further transfer
of structured settlement payment rights by the payee
may be made only after
compliance with all of the requirements of this subsection.
(v) Procedure for approval of transfers.
1. An application under
this subsection for approval of a transfer of structured
settlement payment rights
shall be made by the transferee and may be brought in
the county in which the payee resides, in the county
in
which the structured settlement obligor or the annuity
issuer maintains its principal place of business, or
in any
court which approved the structured settlement agreement.
2. Not less than twenty
(20) days prior to the scheduled hearing on any application
for approval of a transfer
of structured settlement payment rights under paragraph
(B)(iii) of this subsection, the transferee shall file
with the
court and serve on all interested parties a notice of
the proposed transfer and the application for its authorization,
including with such notice:
A. a copy of the transferee's
application;
B. a copy of the transfer
agreement;
C. a copy of the disclosure
statement required under paragraph (B)(ii) of this subsection;
D. a listing of each
of the payee's dependents, together with each dependent's
age;
E. notification that
any interested party is entitled to support, oppose
or otherwise respond to the transferee's
application, either in person or by counsel, by submitting
written comments to the court or by participating in
the
hearing; and
F. notification of the
time and place of the hearing and notification of the
manner in which and the time by which
written responses to the application must be filed (which
shall be not less than fifteen (15) days after service
of the
transferee's notice) in order to be considered by the
court.
(vi) General provisions-- construction.
1. The provisions of
this subsection may not be waived by any payee.
2. Any transfer agreement
entered into on or after the effective date of this
subsection by a payee who
resides in this state shall provide that disputes under
such transfer agreement, including any claim that the
payee
has breached the agreement, shall be determined in and
under the laws of this state. No such transfer agreement
shall authorize the transferee or any other party to
confess judgment or consent to entry of judgment against
the
payee.
3. No transfer of structured
settlement payment rights shall extend to any payments
that are life-contingent
unless, prior to the date on which the payee signs the
transfer agreement, the transferee has established and
has
agreed to maintain procedures reasonably satisfactory
to the annuity issuer and the structured settlement
obligor
for (i) periodically confirming the payee's survival,
and (ii) giving the annuity issuer and the structured
settlement
obligor prompt written notice in the event of the payee's
death.
4. No payee who proposes
to make a transfer of structured settlement payment
rights shall incur any penalty,
forfeit any application fee or other payment, or otherwise
incur any liability to the proposed transferee or any
assignee based on any failure of such transfer to satisfy
the conditions of this subsection.
5. Nothing contained
in this subsection shall be construed to authorize any
transfer of structured settlement
payment rights in contravention of any law or to imply
that any transfer under a transfer agreement entered
into
prior to the effective date of this subsection is valid
or invalid.
6. Compliance with the
requirements set forth in paragraph (B)(ii) of this
subsection and fulfillment of the
conditions set forth in paragraph (B)(iii) of this subsection
shall be solely the responsibility of the transferee
in
any transfer of structured settlement payment rights,
and neither the structured settlement obligor nor the
annuity issuer shall bear any responsibility for, or
any liability arising from, noncompliance with such
requirements or failure to fulfill such conditions.
(vii) Effective date. This subsection shall apply to
any transfer of structured settlement payment rights
under a
transfer agreement entered into on or after the thirtieth
day after the date of enactment of this subsection;
provided however, that nothing contained herein shall
imply that any transfer under a transfer agreement
reached prior to such date is either effective or ineffective;
or
(14) A claim or right to receive benefits under a
special needs trust as described in 42 U.S.C. section
1396p(d)(4), as amended from time to time.
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